Category: Prayer

Lord help me understand… loneliness says more about the condition of my SELF then it does my outside world. It is not caused by others but by my own thoughts and emotions. Loneliness is not projected on to me from an outside condition or source. Someone else didn’t cause it. It’s cause is internal. My feelings are part of me but they don’t own me. Even though this one can be very hard to shake, it can be replaced, ignored or felt and let go before acted upon. Lord save me from myself.

“I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.
Nothing and no one can upset your plans.
You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,
ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,
made small talk about wonders way over my head.
You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.
Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’
I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise!
I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”

– Job 42:1-6 (MSG)

This is Job’s prayer after all the trouble he went through. I hope I am brave enough to keep this prayer close to my heart, “Regardless of where life leads me”. God, I will follow You. I will trust You. I will submit to You. I will give You my all.”

“With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
– Ephesians 6:16 (NRSV)

Faith is the ability to trust that everything is going to be OK. We are going to survive. Nothing evil will overtake us because we trust that God has us in the palm of His hand. This does not mean we won’t be attacked, bad things won’t happen to us or some days we just won’t have things we feel we need. To have faith means we know God will walk us through those times, providing for our needs, caring for us, protecting us. During those times He will restore us and draw us to Him. We have faith to believe He is- or as the Old Testament calls God “I AM”. I AM is the the all sufficient.

The Shield of Faith is used both as a protective and combative instrument. Faith protects us. As the world ruthlessly spreads it’s lack of compassion, it’s foulness and it’s self-centered ideologies; we have a weapon called Faith. Faith leads us to know God is in control no matter what happens. Faith believes, hopes and loves regardless of the situation. It empowers us to be men and women of God no matter how much stress and difficulty we are going through. We can choose how we are going to respond through the power of faith.

I often envision myself in a round camping pop tent. Inside the tent with me is brother Jesus. The storm is raging outside. The enemy is shooting flaming arrows. The war is going on in the worst weather conditions, but I am protected by this tent. Everything is bouncing off the outside of this tent. Believe me I am frightened, but I am protected. This tent is Faith. But it’s not my faith really, it’s the faith of Jesus who is in the tent with me. I don’t have that kind of faith to believe everything will be OK, but He does.

Faith is the tool we have access to in order to manage life and get through the hard times. As with all the Armor of God, it is His faith that we live under. Our faith to believe is not much, but if we combine with His faith, then we can not only survive the storm but we can move mountains in the middle of it.

Faith restores us regardless of how broken we are, or from where brokenness originated- the world, natural disaster, from the enemy’s attacks, the attacks of another person or our own flesh and sin. Faith will give us the strength to recover from sin and truly repent of our actions. It keeps us from returning to sin. I pray all those who trust in our Father will experience true God inspired, God breathed faith.

“Father grant us your faith – the faith to truly believe you love us and you will always be with us no matter what we go through. Help us to know in our heart of hearts that we will be ok, even in the darkest trials. We want Your faith God. Thank you. In Jesus’ name.”

Sometimes I fear I will be lost in my own brokenness,
my own hopelessness, my despair;
But then I cry out and You are there, when I thought no one cared.
You hold me, You lift me up, You make me rise above.
I am caught up and swept away.
It is then I am able to make a monument to You!
It is there I have found myself complete.

“As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.”
– Ephesians 6:14

For many years I have been involved in peace and social justice issues. The call on my life has always lead me to the poor, the suffering, the rejected, the outcast. I still feel very strong about these issues, but new light over the word “peace” has developed as I have been meditating and praying the armor of God passages over this past year (Ephesians 6:10-18).

We, the children of light, are men and women of peace. There are many scriptures speaking of this. This peace is something internal, which is projected on to the external. Peace is not the absence of struggle, but a frame of mind, a paradigm. We can be under much stress, even suffering but still have peace.

Peace is the presence of God. The only way to truly have peace is to be conscious of our walk with God. Conscious of His goodness no matter what we are walking through. It is His peace which I want in my life- to lead me, to comfort me and to use me to comfort others. Away from God, my peace is not much. In fact it is well tainted with my agenda. But His peace will break hearts, mend hearts, heal lives and bring about the faith, hope and love we all desperately seek.

So let’s prepare our feet for battle with the Gospel of Peace. Let His peace rule in our lives. Submit to God’s peace.

“Father it is Your peace we want today – the quiet which gets us through these stressful, anxious, overly busy days. We want to be filled with Your peace so greatly that those around us sense Your presence and want to rest with us. Help us to take Your peace into all the world, proclaiming Your goodness, Your mercy and Your truth. In the name of Jesus.”

“Lord give us strength to love and not become hard hearted. We know that it doesn’t take long for our hearts to harden if we let bitterness in- whether it’s justified in our own mind or not. Don’t let us get our cues from the media, our culture or our heritage- but directly from You. You are The Source. Help us to serve You with a tender heart – a heart of flesh. This is Your word and Your word is truth. Empower us to do what You have called us to do. You are our strength, our anchor, our healer and our restorer. Thank you.”